Saturday, July 08, 2006

Much too Much

Can anyone explain why £18 million of the BBC license fee; more than the total license fee for every household in Thanet, should be spent on a three year deal for presenter Jonathan Ross, who is apparently, “Good value for money.”

BBC income from licence fee payers topped £3 billion for the first time this year. A television licence costs £131.50 and the corporation has asked for a 2.3 per cent rise above inflation, which could result in viewers paying £180 by 2013.

13 comments:

I'm afraid that the old Beeb is rapidly getting to the point where we can no longer afford to keep it. I wonder how much of the licence fee is spent on pursuing those who don't have one!Trouble is, every once in a while the BBC come up with a 'blinder' like 'The Living Planet' which leaves us all with a nice glowing feeling that 'we can still do it - good old Beeb'. And then they pay that gibbon Ross........

Jonathan Ross is not to my personal taste either, Nethercourt, but referring to him as a "gibbon" is I think the type of offensive language that Dr Moores is keen to stop on here. He may not appeal to you or me, but he clearly does appeal to many millions. And there are many other presenters who are paid what seem to be exhorbitant salaries, and who are not universally admired.

I suspect Ross has been singled out because he was the subject of local MP Gale's hostile comments about the BBC on here last week. He was complaining on the back of Ross's interview with Tory Leader Cameron, who clearly made a huge mistake going on the programme where he was made to look stupid. Sadly for Gale, most people disagreed with his rant.

"Gale's View", Dr Moores, attracted 11 comments, although 4 were duplicates (in one case an explanation for some of the duplicates). So there were 7 substantive comments. Two of these were light hearted, leaving 5 of a serious nature. Of these 5, two (Anon 1201 and Green 1540) disagreed totally with "Gale's View". One, Shernus, disagreed that TV is responsible for anti-social behaviour, but agreed over BBC quality. One (Anon 2039) was commenting on the quality of all sorts of TV, and felt it is all poor. One (Maskell) agreed with "Gale's View". That is the basis for my comment.

I referred to it as a "rant" because "Gale's View is usually written in strong, slightly hysterical terms. On this occasion, he referred to the "foul mouth" of Jonathan Ross; he referred to the "best of broadcasters...a category into which Mr Ross has no danger of falling"; he referred to Mr Ross as "this oaf". There are sevral other examples.

Nethercourt, we share the same view of Jonathan Ross, but like you I'm sure, I know many people who think he is a great presenter. And I don't know his mother, so do't include her in the list!

anon again!Personally, I think it is time for the BBC to start advertising to support and cover the cost of their "special wish" niche's.The indies have survived for years and when run correctly, make an enviable profit.

I look forward to the day when I can watch TV without the worry of "did I pay the TV licence?" hanging over me.....

I dread the day the Beeb have to advertise. For me, films on Independent channels are virtually unwatchable because of commercial breaks. Advertising destroys my enjoyment of television. The BBC is the lone oasis in a sea of inane, brainless, greed orientated hogwash.

I'm a big fan of the beeb, although this may be due to the fact that I am one of the few who makes a bit more back from it every year than I pay in licence fees.

I genuinly believe that the BBC is something we should all be proud of, the greatest broadcaster in Europe. As the old cliche says, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. They could raise licence fees to £500 and I still wouldn't complain.

I'm a big fan of the beeb, although this may be due to the fact that I am one of the few who makes a bit more back from it every year than I pay in licence fees.

I genuinly believe that the BBC is something we should all be proud of, the greatest broadcaster in Europe. As the old cliche says, if it ain't broke, don;t fix it. They could raise licence fees to £500 and I still wouldn't complain.

The BBC find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. Jonathon Ross is a popular personality (both on Radio and TV) and it makes sense to keep him at the BBC for ratings alone.

If they don't try and compete with ITV and SKY and see their ratings lowered then they would find it hard to justify collecting the license fee. When they do compete for ratings by making popular programming they are accused of not providing the public braodcasting we come to expect from the BBC.